Just in case you have forgotten we have only 3 days left to get our applications in, unless your a sticks and strings hunter then we have no deadline. Good luck to all of you SD guys. PS there are no birds in Gregory county so dont take a chance. LOL just kidding[:D]. There are plenty of birds out there.

Awesome news!!!! What county are you going for? We got our tags messed up last year and were able to go to the Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls and get it all fixed. Now the next question is this white stuff going to disappear?

Howler,Ill be hunting the black hills unit.mostly in Mead county north of rapid,west of the interstate. good luck huntin Gragory county.If you ever get the urge to do the hills let me know.Maybe i can help get you on some birds.Been warm enough lately that all of our snow is gone.Seeing some birds moving.
Royce

I got mine in the mail the other day for the Black Hills. Honestly, I've never turkey hunted in my life and really have no idea what I'm doing out here. Any opinions on good places to start? Oh well, I'm sure I'll have fun and hopefully I'll be successful! Everybody has to start somewhere!

Awesome job on getting your tags. I have hunted the Black Hills for turkey 3 times. In my opinion its harder because there is so much area, they are not contained to any area. Alot of times it depends on how long winter is. The longer it is the further south they are, down by custer. We have started in Hill City and worked our way south. Ask locals, gas station clercks sporting goods stores, ect if they have seen them and about what areas. I would get a forest service map and if you have a Garmin GPS go onto the state website and download the map onto your GPS you will love it. Hot spots that have worked for me were around the dutchman camp ground, battel ax road, and "The burn". Take ditch creek rd to get to the burn. It has been a few years since I have turkey hunted out there and they have cut down alot of trees out there and there pattern has changed im betting. I went out there for muzzleloader deer and seen a few by hot springs where we stayed and some by Mystic. Id talk to locals and then go there and hit the logging roads looking for signs. Roosting birds is a little hard to locate witch trees they are in but get close. 2 times we were out there after they flew down they shut up but some came in. Good luck out there. It will be fun but bring your hand held gps and a compass its easy to get turned around out there. a good set of binos are definatly useful. Let me know if you this helps and if you have any questions ill be glad to try to help point you in the right direction

Twinsfan, always glad to have another SD boy huntin turkey.were few and far between.Even these RC boys dont do much of it. Howler has some great advise. Just dont go out without at least a compass,and a GF&P map. Its not all east-west-north-south like it is on the plains. Im new too,and having trouble finding huntable birds, but the woods are full of em. you can call me if you want,just e-mail me at roycevolker@yahoo.com and Ill give you my number, and all the tips i can on birds.
royce

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I've been living in Rapid City for a few years now. I finally bought a truck in January... I figured, that should open up a few more options for hunting (it was hard fitting a shotgun into my beater Ford Escort... let alone any game). I used to hunt deer in Southern Minnesota when I was in high school, but I haven't hunted much for over 10 years. College and starting a career has taken priority the last 10 years, but now I've got the time and the money to get back into hunting. Last summer I got into fly fishing out here, that's been fun. Hunting, as I said, it's been about 10 years since I've hunted, but I'm anxious to get back into it! I figured Turkey hunting would be a fun way to start, and relatively inexpensive (obviously, it's as cheap or as expensive as a guy wants to make it). I'll buy more stuff as I go, figuring out what more I need and want. I did enough research where I think I have an idea about the basics. I'm sure the learning curve will be steep though! I do have a compass and maps. I think I'll take your advice and purchase a GPS at Cabela's either today or tomorrow, that sounds like a good way to go.

I've been searching for that battle ax road, I haven't found it yet. If nothing else, I'll stop at the Ranger station and ask them. I'm sure they'll know where it is. When you look at the maps, there's a lot of area, and a lot of area I'm not familiar with, so just driving around haphazardly is a bit daunting. The bulk of my time in the hills has been driving to trout streams, so that has narrowed the areas I've explored down a lot. Obviously, Turkey hunting will take me to a lot more places than trout fishing, so I'm looking forward to that aspect as well! I'll take your advice and start down in the Hill City area!

Best way to learn it is to get out and do it! Now's a good time to start getting out and scouting potential areas for birds. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, you will, everyone does. You will learn a lot your first couple of times hunting by yourself. Its not the end of the world if a bird busts you. Just tip your hat to him and go find another one.

Seing plenty of birds. got 4 days more to wait and scout.Trying to roost a big flock west of Black Hawk could here them up the canyon,but couldnt make it before dark.Ill be there sooner tonight.. Spotted a bunch of lunkers east os Peidmont on private land.Maybe a good spot for road hunting if we get skunked in the hills.